Opera Scotland

In the Sulks

Tours by decade

Tours by location

Music

Alfred Cellier (born London, 1 December 1844; died London, 28 December 1891).

Text

Frank Desprez.

 

Premieres

First Performance: London (Opera Comique), 21 February 1880.

First Performance in Scotland: tbc.

 

Background

Frank Desprez churned out a significant number of texts for these brief curtain-raisers.  Alfred Cellier was a long-term associate of Gilbert and Sullivan.  He is remembered now for the phenomenal success of his musical comedy Dorothy, the first run of which outstripped even The Mikado in popularity.

The 1881 tour had In the Sulks, described as a 'Musical Burletta', given as a curtain-raiser for the hugely popular Sorcerer and HMS Pinafore, playing in repertoire, half a week each.

 

Characters

Mr James Liverby, a businessman (tenor)

Mrs Georgina Liverby, his wife (soprano)

Joseph, a youth (baritone)

 

Plot Summary

Georgina is fed up with her husband's constant sulking, and decides to provoke him by writing a fake letter to herself, purporting to be from a young admirer.  As it happens, just such a youth has been hanging about the house.  Mr Liverby duly finds the letter, and sees the error of his ways

However Georgina is appalled to find that this is not her letter, but an apparently genuine one.  It transpires that the letter was written by her husband's nephew in the hope that Georgina would intercede to get his job in the family firm back.  All ends happily.

Sources include Wikipedia and contemporary newspapers and periodicals.